wfn.org | Iowa pastor top winner in sermon contest

["Wilma Shuffitt"<wshuffit@oc.disciples.org>]

Date: January 25, 1999
Disciples News Service
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
Contact: Clifford L. Willis
Email: CWillis@oc.disciples.org
on the Web: http://www.disciples.org

99a-2

	INDIANAPOLIS (DNS) -- "Denominational leaders just don't get it," 
wrote the Rev. Leslie Borsay. The Iowa pastor's sermon, Mergers, 
Mega-Churches and Mountain Tops, was judged best among 51 entries in 
the first sermon contest on Christian unity sponsored by the Council 
on Christian Unity of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). 
Borsay is acting pastor of Early Chapel Christian Church, Earlham, 
and Redfield (Iowa) Christian Church.

	"Isn't unity our ‘pole (polar) star'?" he asked. "Aren't we 
committed to the idea of reuniting the churches?" He compared the 
resistance to unity among Christian denominations to the apostle 
Peter's eagerness to erect three tents: one for Elijah, one forMoses 
and one for Jesus on the site of Jesus' transfiguration. He argued 
that denominations, instead of acting on Jesus' plea forunity (John 
17.22), shelter their historical identities in tents of human making, 
forgetting that Jesus rebuffed Peter's notion.

	"But Jesus, when we finally turn to him, can cast out the demons of 
our divisions, can quiet our raging controversies, can healour 
destructive self-absorptions," Borsay preached. In the end, he said, 
Christian unity is a gift of God's mercy. "It begins not with 
councils and committees, but with the Lord -- and his people on their 
knees. . . . If we pray and if we fast, if we focuson God and if we 
are willing to sacrifice our pride and our wants, the reunification 
of the body can begin." 

	The Rev. Suzanne Webb, former pastor of First Christian Church, 
Carbondale, Ill., called on her congregants to "tear down the fences 
separating us from each other. . . . That's when the glory will be 
revealed . . . as soon as the church of Jesus Christ lives as if it 
is ONE church; lives as if it reveals ONE God; lives as if it has one 
passion and one goal -- and one faith." Her sermon earned second 
place in the contest.  

	The Rev. C. Michael Cunningham, pastor, First Christian Church, 
Bluefield, W.Va., preached his unity sermon on the 17th chapterof the 
Gospel of John. Jesus' prayer, he said, explains why Christian unity 
has been the "polar star" of the Christian Church (Disciples of 
Christ). "Jesus prayed that his followers may be one, even as he and 
his Father are one. 

	"Well, how are Jesus and the Father one? Answer that and you go a 
long way toward answering ‘How are Christians to be one?'" Cunningham 
wrote. Christians mirror the unity of the Father and the Son by being 
"one in will, one in love, one in knowledge and one in glory with all 
Christians in our community." His sermon earned third place.

	The panel of judges included the Revs. Roy Griggs, Tulsa, Okla., and 
Jack Sullivan, Jr., Seattle, Wash., and Sally Paulsell, Lexington, 
Ky., all members of the Council on Christian Unity board of 
directors.  Renowned Disciples preacher and educator, the Rev. Fred 
Craddock, professor emeritus, Emory University, Atlanta, Ga., also 
served as a judge.  The identities of the sermon authors were not 
known to the judges until the winners were determined.

	"The panel of judges was extremely pleased with the quality of 
sermons received," said the Rev. Robert Welsh, CCU president. The 
final choice was so difficult that the panel also named two other 
pastors in the category of "honorable mention": the Rev. Timothy 
Carson, Webster Groves Christian Church, St. Louis, Mo., and the Rev. 
J. Christopher Michael, First Christian Church, Narrows, Va.

	Welsh announced the winners' identities during the Week of Prayer 
for Christian Unity, Jan. 17-23. When asked who the top winner was in 
the sermon contest, Welsh replied, "the Council on Christian Unity."
	
	The first, second and third place honors include prizes of $1,000, 
$300, and $200, respectively. The awards will be made at thecouncil's 
dinner during the 1999 General Assembly of the Christian Church 
(Disciples of Christ) in Cincinnati. Welsh hopes to arrange for the 
winning preachers to deliver their sermons in local congregations 
during the October assembly as well. In addition, the sermons will be 
published in the April 1999 issue of Mid-Stream, an ecumenical 
journal with world wide distribution, published by the council. 

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